Checking out the BAM!
As mentioned in last week's TWIT, the Black Arts Movement Festival, presented by ProArts Collective, is Austinist's Pick of the Week this week. The Chronicle and the Statesman have also made good mention of the fest, but to catch up the few of you who've yet to get the skinny on this event, here's what's going on.
For the next two weeks, BAM brings to Austin an awesome smorgasbord of performance art by African American artists. The festival includes dance and spoken word performances, theatre, staged readings, and more, brought to you by local and national artists. Feeling overwhelmed? To cut through the information overload, here's the day-by-day lowdown on what's being offered this week. And there's more to come next week!
Note: Except for the free shows, tickets are $10, door only / $35-$65 via festival pass, online only.
Staged Reading: Yo, Frederick by Gus Edwards
"A rap rendition of the early life of the impassioned African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass." --Texas State's Currents newsletter
Tonight, September 25th
Boyd Vance Theater [map]
8pm
Staged Reading: The Faraway Nearby by Amparo Garcia Crow
A story that "illuminates the searing effects of the Vietnam War on three individuals." --Texas State's Currents newsletter
Tuesday, September 26th
Boyd Vance Theater [map]
8pm
Theatre: Black & Blue: 400 Years of Struggle and Transcendence by Sterling Houston, featuring the Gemini Ink Dramatic Readers Theatre
"View the African-American journey...through letters, stories, poems, songs, theatrical excerpts, and actual historical documents from the slavery and civil rights eras." --Gemini Ink
Wednesday, September 27th
Boyd Vance Theater [map]
8pm
Theatre: Topdog/Underdog by Suzan Lori-Parks, featuring the iTheatre Collaborative
"The play chronicles the adult lives of two African American brothers, Lincoln and Booth, as they cope with women, work, poverty, gambling, racism, and their troubled upbringings." --Wikipedia
Thursday, September 28th
The Off Center [map]
8pm
Dance: The President's Daughter choreographed by Robert Moses, performed Robert Moses' Kin
"Intrigued by parallels in the personal lives of Thomas Jefferson and the late South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond, Moses created this work to address themes surrounding race, gender, and the conflicting public and private worlds of iconic Americans...based loosely on the 1853 novel of the same name by William Wells Brown." --Robert Moses' Kin
Friday, September 29th
Boyd Vance Theater [map]
8pm
Music: SoulFest Music Festival / Dance: BAM! Celebration
From what we can tell, these events bring the first week to a close with arts, fun, and plenty of celebration.
Saturday, September 30th
Kenny Dorham's Back Yard [map] / Boyd Vance Theater [map]
4pm / 8pm
Free.
Header image (c) ProArts Collective.
